Welcome to Bluestone 1 - Bluestone homecoming (10 page)

“This should be plenty. And we’ll announce it
at the town hall meeting Wednesday, and remind them at school and
church. Oh, Leo, thank you.” And then, as if she realized she
shouldn’t, she hesitated, then hugged him.

He held her a bit longer than he should,
breathing in the spring-like scent of her, feeling her supple body
beneath his hands, her breasts against his chest. Leo drew back and
looked into the knowing gaze of Mrs. Boller. He took a giant step
back, physically and emotionally, and placed a hand on Max’s
shoulder.

“We’re heading to the diamond. Some of the
kids are waiting for us.”

“I did find out some of the nearby towns have
teams,” Trinity volunteered. “Not sure how many interested parties
I have here, but I’ll work on that.”

“Send ‘em over to the diamond. We’ll be
there.” The desire to kiss her boneless finally subsiding, he
nodded good-bye to Max’s teacher and guided Max to the SUV.

***

Leo walked into Quinn’s Friday night with the
hope of seeing Trinity, but was disappointed. He crossed to Lily at
the bar.

She greeted him with a quick hug. “Hey, Leo,
I was going to come by tonight if I didn’t see you. Quinn’s having
a barbecue here tomorrow, out in the parking lot.”

“Quinn is not having a barbecue,” Quinn
corrected from down the bar. “Lily is having a barbecue at Quinn’s.
There’s a difference.”

Lily waved a dismissive hand in his
direction. “I don’t know why you want people to think you’re
anti-social.”

“So they’ll leave me alone.”

She rolled her eyes and turned to Leo. “So I
imagine a certain school teacher will be there.”

“You may as well bring me both beers now,”
Leo told Quinn.

“Word is she waits out front for you to pick
up Max, and the other day you shared quite an intimate
embrace.”

Leo used every ounce of will not to squirm
under her knowing grin. How did such a simple sentence make him
feel like he was back in high school? “She hugged me, a thank-you
for setting up movie night.”

“That’s the other thing.” She bounced on her
stool as Quinn delivered two beers to Leo and one to Lily. “That
happened awfully quickly, and without the council’s approval.”

“I didn’t think I needed the council’s
approval. It’s your land, right, and I already talked to Mr. Boysen
about using the side of his building as a screen.”

“I meant for the financing. We have to rent a
projector, don’t we?”

He shrugged. “I bought one.”

“Aren’t they expensive?”

“Not too bad.” He didn’t want to get into it
with her, not wanting to cover the same ground he’d covered with
Trinity. So he changed the subject. “So, this barbecue, you have
people bringing stuff? Like a potluck?”

“Do you cook?” Lily’s eyebrows winged up.

“No, but I can stop by the bakery or
something.”

“You could man the pit tonight,” Quinn
said.

Leo frowned. “I could what?”

“Meat has to be cooked overnight. Got a buddy
bringing in his giant smoker, but we have a lot of meat and it
needs to be turned and whatever.”

Lily leaned on the bar. “Quinn was going to
watch it all night, but if you could watch it awhile, that would
give him a break.”

“Sure, yeah, fine,” Leo agreed, thinking Lily
had the right of it, Quinn was having the barbecue. Lily just had
the idea. “What time do you want me?”

“Three? I’ll take the first shift, get the
fire going, figure out what we need to do, then hand it over.”

Leo lifted his beer in agreement, though he
couldn’t remember the last time he’d been up that early on
purpose.

“It’s going to get down in the forties
tonight, so dress warm,” Lily warned.

“Yes, Mom.” He grinned and saluted her with
his bottle.

Quinn moved away to help another customer,
and Leo nodded at the flyer he’d pinned beside the bar.

“You think you’ll get Quinn dressed up for
Movie Night?”

She angled her head, studying him. “I kind of
can see him in a Brando get-up, can’t you? On the Waterfront?”

“Harrison Ford in American Graffiti.”

She grinned. “That’s his usual style anyway.
Thanks for helping out, by the way. With the Movie Night and the
barbecue and making all those phone calls to Maddox.”

“I still think we’d have better luck if
someone who knew him contacted him,” Leo said. “But I’ll give it
another shot next week. Meanwhile I’ve been looking up those prices
you asked for.” He shook his head. “Not sure the council will go
for this expense, either, if it’s not guaranteed to bring people
in.”

“What expense is that?” Quinn asked,
returning.

Was the guy always listening to Leo’s
conversations with Lily? “We need a decent sized stage, especially
for Maddox, and a sound guy and a light guy. They can hire help
locally, but the experts are pricey. Then there’s the electricity.
That’s going to be an added cost. And are we paying the bands?”

“Just travel expenses,” Lily said. “I’m
putting aside two cabins for the smaller bands. More for Maddox,
once he confirms.”

She seemed certain he would. Leo was less
convinced, after a week of getting the run-around.

“I’d better get going, if I’m going to get
back here at three.” He drained his second beer, reached across the
bar to shake Quinn’s hand, and headed out.

****

Leo had lived in Minnesota long enough to
expect snow in April. While it wasn’t quite cold enough tonight, he
thought Lily’s prediction of forty-degree temps was generous as he
drove to Quinn’s. Definitely long underwear, hat, gloves and
overcoat weather.

The man himself was sitting in a lawn chair
beside a huge metal barbecue pit on wheels. Smoke poured out of the
pipe chimney, and Quinn was under a blanket drinking a beer.

“Got your Snuggie?” Leo joked as he closed
the truck door and crossed the gravel lot.

“See how much of a smartass you are after
three hours out here,” Quinn retorted, motioning to the second lawn
chair and reaching for a beer from the six-pack under his
chair.

Right. In this weather no need for a cooler.
Leo sat and took the beer.

“So. Lily’s idea.”

Quinn grunted. “She thinks it’ll bring people
to the bar and the landing. I say offering free food in front of my
place isn’t the best for business, but she gets these ideas in her
head.”

“And you get your friend to bring his rolling
smoker.”

Quinn grimaced. “No big.”

“Who bought all the meat?”

“She did. Got the ladies from the church to
put out a phone tree asking for sides and desserts. She bought the
plates and had the kids at the wood shop at the high school build
some tables.”

“The woman must never stop.”

“She never lets grass grow under her feet,
that’s for certain. And she keeps me on my toes.” Quinn’s gaze
shifted to the lake as he took a long drag from his beer.

Leo wanted to pursue that, but wasn’t sure he
wanted to delve that deeply into Quinn’s thoughts—if the man would
even allow that. So instead, he said, “Long day for you, from
opening the restaurant to now.”

“Don’t matter. I don’t really sleep anymore
anyway.”

Okay, that was an opening if Leo’d ever heard
one. “Where were you?” He didn’t have to ask any more than that for
Quinn to know what he was talking about.

Quinn kept his gaze on the lake and his
expression didn’t change. “Fallujah. Bad there, you know. That’s
where my buddy bought it.”

The last bit was said so matter-of-factly, to
allay sympathy. Leo knew, because he used the same tone when he
spoke of Liv. He nodded and kept the same demeanor. “I followed a
unit in Fallujah a few years back. My last bit was in Afghanistan.”
What he did overseas was nothing compared to what Quinn had faced.
He hadn’t lost a friend or fired a gun or faced death every day.
But he wanted Quinn to know he had a frame of reference.

Quinn blew out a breath. “Would hate to be
there now, man. Hell on earth, from what my friends who are still
in tell me.”

“No barbecue on a lake, that’s for sure.”

Quinn inclined his head. “We used to come up
here all the time to fish, you know, my buddy Gerry and me. Loved
this place. The whole time we were over there we made plans to buy
the bar. Put the money down on his last leave. Went back and died
two weeks later. Hard to stay now.”

“Even with Lily?”

Quinn lifted a shoulder. “Nothing going on
there. She deserves more.”

Leo inclined his head. “I think you’re wrong
there.”

“You know something about her that I don’t?”
Quinn asked with a grin.

“One thing about Lily, she knows what she
wants.”

“That’s the truth.”

Leo shook his head at the other man’s
obtuseness. Or stubbornness. Quinn climbed out of his chair with a
groan.

“I better get going because she’s going to
want me here at the crack of dawn to set up. Let me show you what
to do.”

“So, you two aren’t sleeping together or
anything? And you do all this because she asks you?”

“You ever seen that woman smile?” Quinn
angled a look at Leo.

“She smiles all the time.”

“Yeah, but the smiles she has that are just
for you? I live for those, man.” He clapped Leo on the back and
headed toward his truck.

“You okay to drive?” Leo called.

Quinn waved in the affirmative, climbed in,
and drove off. Leo plopped back in the chilled chair and grabbed
the blanket Quinn had abandoned. Yeah, he knew all about those
smiles, but it wasn’t Lily he wanted to get them from.

He just hoped she showed at the barbecue
tomorrow.

****

“Hey.”

A soft hand on his cheek had Leo jolting
awake. He blinked and looked up into Trinity’s laughing blue
eyes.

“Aren’t you supposed to be watching the
meat?”

He swore and swatted at the blanket he’d
become tangled in, trying to get to his feet.

“Don’t worry. I checked on it. It’s fine.
Move over.”

“What?” His sleep fogged brain didn’t
register more than the early light surrounding her.

She lifted the blanket and wedged onto the
chair with him, then pulled the blanket over both of them. He
braced his feet so they didn’t fall over. He could have worried
that the chair wasn’t big enough for both of them, but she was
curled on his lap with her hand on his chest and her head beneath
his chin.

“Colder today than I expected,” she said.
“You’re warm.”

“Trinity.” Her thigh brushed his reaction to
her, which only had more blood rushing to that area. “Shouldn’t.
Someone—”

“You smell good.” She nuzzled his throat.

His arousal shot to new heights. He clapped
his hand over hers on his chest. “Haven’t seen you running all
week.”

“I had morning duty. Had to be at school
early to watch the kids who arrive early.”

“No fun running if I can’t see you in those
cute little pants.” Without his permission, his hand slid over her
thigh.

Her eyes darkened and her lips parted.

And another hand tapped his cheek. “Wake up,
Sleeping Beauty. We got work to do.”

This time, he woke up to look into blue eyes
that weren’t quite so pretty. Quinn tapped his cheek again,
harder.

“Come on, we got tables to set up.”

“Leo’s looking at me weird,” Trinity said to
Lily as they stood in the shade of the canopies, with tables of
sides spread in front of them.

“He’s always looking at you.” Lily piled some
potato salad on Mrs. Northrup’s plate.

“It’s different today. It’s…predatory.” She
shivered, not wanting to reveal just how those looks made her
tingle, made her long to see what he would do if dozens of people,
including his son, weren’t surrounding them.

As if her attention summoned him, he
approached, grinning.

“Ladies,” he greeted, taking Trinity in a
glance before directing his focus to Lily. “We’re thinking of
getting an impromptu softball game together in a half hour or so.
Would you be interested in playing?”

“Who are the teams?” Lily asked as Trinity
opened her mouth to decline.

“Quinn’s and mine.”

“And who else is playing?”

“Not sure of everyone’s name. Enough to man
the bases if you two will play. Come on. I need a catcher.” He
flashed the grin that no doubt convinced more than one woman to do
something against her better judgment.

But Trinity didn’t have a chance to voice her
objection before Lily said, “Okay, as soon as we get someone to
cover for us, we’ll be over.”

“I have no coordination,” Trinity protested
when he walked away. “I can barely manage not to fall on my ass
when I’m running. I’m going to embarrass myself out there.”

“In front of Leo, you mean.”

Trinity waved a hand as if to disburse the
romantic notions flying through the air. “Ex-jock, hometown
hero.”

“Who thinks you’re sexy. Don’t worry about
it.” She waved Mrs. Erickson over to take over for them, then
looped her arm through Trinity’s. “Let’s play ball.”

Quinn paced at the edge of the diamond, all
tension, when the two women approached. He strode forward and
caught Lily’s arm. “You’re my pitcher,” he said, thrusting the ball
into her hand. Then he yanked a cap from his back pocket and tugged
it over his head to shade his eyes. “We’re outfield first.”

“Why?” Lily asked.

“Lost the bet. Trinity, Leo wants you,” he
said over his shoulder.

She turned to see Leo crossing the field
wearing a Twins cap, loose-limbed, a bat dangling from his hand,
his glove stuffed in his pocket. She’d never been drawn to jocks
but the confidence in his stride, the tools of his sport melted
everything female in her.

“We’re batting first. You want to go
second?”